In
the middle Saxon period the character of settlement became less dispersed,
with more organised and intensive use of space on habitation sites and
a greater diversity of building forms, including timber
halls. At the same time, there is evidence of agricultural intensification
in the form of increased quantities of charred cereals, a change in crops
grown, including new varieties to Yarnton such as rye and legumes, the
presence of horticulture and the importance of flax production. Initial
depletion in soil fertility seems to have been countered by more effective
weeding techniques and, probably, manuring. Hay
meadow was created on the Thames floodplain, probably within substantial
double-ditch-and-hedge boundaries.
It is suggested that the middle Saxon evidence represents indications
of settlement nucleation
and embryonic village
development on the one hand, and the origins of the open-field
farming system in this area on the other. The dating evidence, although
not very precise, suggests that these changes began in the 8th century
but gathered pace in the 9th.
As a story of changing settlement and landscape, the record for Yarnton
is truly remarkable, for it can be seen within a trajectory of over five
millennia of human activity in the area. From the earliest evidence of
settlement on the floodplain in the early part of the 4th millennium BC,
it is possible to trace increasing permanence of occupation and clearance
of the landscape. Yarnton can be seen to have shifted gradually eastwards
from its Iron Age location to that of the middle Saxon period, and then
north-eastwards towards the medieval village of Yarnton which appears
to have been clustered around the Norman church. By the 17th century its
focus lay further north, along the road between Kidlington to Cassington.
Today modern housing is being built over the medieval open fields to the
north of the village, between its 17th-century centre and the turnpike
road between Oxford and Woodstock (now the A34). The opportunity to pursue
this wide-ranging research has been afforded by a rescue situation, demonstrating
that it is possible to undertake exciting, accessible and academically
stimulating archaeological investigations in these circumstances.
Volume 1: Yarnton: Saxon and Medieval Settlement
and
Landscape
Due to be published early in 2004
Early Saxon
settlement was first identified on the edge of an Iron
Age and Roman
occupation site at Yarnton. Subsequent work revealed the presence
of middle Saxon settlement immediately to the east, prompting the
first excavation of a rural site of this period in Oxfordshire. Investigations
further afield uncovered evidence for early and middle Saxon settlement
adjacent to the neighbouring modern hamlet of Worton, and middle Saxon
buildings were uncovered among Iron Age pits and postholes at Cresswell
Field. These discoveries have had important implications for understanding
settlement patterns in the 7th and 8th centuries AD, but have also
highlighted the difficulties of locating middle Saxon settlements
comprising posthole buildings and few durable objects.
The wider landscape context of these settlements was investigated
by fieldwalking,
geophysical survey
and trenched evaluation,
revealing manuring
scatters, field boundaries, ploughsoils
and trackways. Former river channels on the floodplain provided valuable
sources of information for reconstructing the landscape and changes
in agricultural practices over time, particularly the presence of
pollen and waterlogged
macrobotanical and invertebrate
remains.
Romano-British settlements are present at both Yarnton and Worton.
Within this context it has been possible to study the period of transition
from the late Roman to the early Saxon periods, particularly on the
more intensively excavated Yarnton site. Early Saxon buildings appear
to have respected late Roman features, although no obvious traces
of sub-Roman activity were recovered and the character of settlement
is strikingly different to that of the Roman period. A similar pattern
of contiguous but discontinuous occupation emerges from a survey of
the sites in the immediate area. Despite the paucity of evidence for
habitation through the 5th century the environmental indicators suggest
that the land continued to be farmed, though by less intensive methods
than those employed in the Roman period. One explanation for permanence
of settlement location may be the retention of farming units and land
boundaries by Saxon settlers.
Click on the map to view the phase plan in more detail.
The Introductory Chapter for this volume is available to download here as a PDF file (133 KB).
